Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has paid tribute to Theo Walcott claiming his England colleague has all the qualities to play as a striker for Arsenal.
Having spent an age calling on Arsene Wenger to give him a central role, Walcott has finally been utilised as the spearhead of the Gunners attack in three consecutive games (against Reading, Wigan and Newcastle) plundering four goals in the process to take his season’s total to 14.
Reflecting on his second hat trick of the season Chamberlain said of his teammate:
“He definitely has all the attributes to play up front. The goals are coming. He has proven he can do a really good job for us up there.
“For someone with his pace it’s hard for anyone to defend against and when he gets the service he can always punish teams so he’s doing really well.
“His performance was amazing. You could see after his first goal he had a spring in his step but he has been like that all season. He has been brilliant.”
Pinpointing Walcott’s ability to put speculation over his future behind him, Chamberlain continued:
“Even with all the speculation that’s going on, he’s stuck to his work.
“He’s a great professional, a good mate and a good lad around the dressing room. We need him to keep (scoring goals) for as long as he can.
“We’ve all been giving him a bit of banter (about his contract) but that’s for Theo’s people and himself to sort out with whoever is involved.”
In other news, Arsene Wenger has again called on people not to judge his team until the end of the season claiming that his rebuilt side is only now beginning to find its feet.
“People have been very impatient with us,” the boss told Arsenal.com.
“We have rebuilt a team. We started well. We stuttered a little bit after and now we have come back.
“We had to rebuild a team and we have done it. [It] demands some time and some understanding. How good are we? It will be decided in the next four or five months.
“I always said I’m confident, because I feel the team is focused, has a good spirit, and are united. Slowly we are getting there. We still have some work to do.”
Arsenal travel to Southampton, where both Walcott and Chamberlain took their formative steps in the game, hoping to extend their run of four consecutive wins in the Premier League. Fingers crossed we can start 2013 as well as we’ve finished 2012.
Say what you want, but Theo has frequently looked a class above this season. Even after his early Capital One Cup performances many posters on this site were clamoring for him to sign the thing. Would be a shame to see him go just after he’s seemed to reach something approaching his full potential this season.
Newcastle game showed the best and worst of theo. we’ve seen more of his best this season, if he can keep improving then I’m sure no one will want to let him go. Frustrating he finally gets his act together on the last year of his contract..
You are right but it would be shame for him to leave too as he started to develop. Remember Le Cunt? Remember (dear I say it) Fab? Remember Greedybayor? Remember Clichy? Remember Hlep? The world was under their feet to develop and being world class. Who are they now? The one that got better and I hate to say it is Ca$hly, and the Dutch Idiot just one injury away from being added to that who list. The only player I am sad about his decline in that list is Fab. I saw the 10 best players in the world… Read more »
Fabregas is still clas. 5 goals and 9 assists from 14 matches. Agree with rest of them
I don’t think I do remember Hlep…
Happy new year everyone
We need a right winger to replace theo. I say we sign David beckham.
Lighten up people he’s clearly not being serious!…
…You weren’t, right?
Well…………………….
I think it’s fair enough to judge this team at the end of the season, although by the same extent, it will be also fair enough to judge you by your actions (or lack of) in January. In Wenger We Trust.
Thumbs down for the name alone. Grow up ffs.
Glad you said that, It really depresses me when we sing that song. Having said that when he comes back in April I think we should burst our lungs out singing it at him
wow
If we’re gonna talk b/s, let me start…….kim kardashian is talented.
Still can’t believe Wenger played Gervinho in the central role before Walcott. What was he thinking??
He just wnted to try a bad option up frnt…as even a mediocre striker wld hve luked gud in frnt of gerv…which wld hve helped build the confidence of HFB and Walcott…
I know, Gervinho this, Gervinho that. I wholeheartedly agree.
Yet, who remembers that Chelsea goal Gervinho made? I know I do, that was class. You can’t deny there is something that Wenger saw.
He was probably thinking, “It’s the start of the season, I have several players who could play as either a striker or a winger – let me juggle players and formations around until I find something that works.”
yup that is about right, but by the time we find something work we are already out of the race for the league, get beaten by Bradford and have to face strong team in the CL.
“Arsene Knows” lol
I think theres a Gervinho we don’t see which the others do on the training ground. However after two years he has barely replicated it on matchday and for that reason alone, i feel he should be sold in the summer, especially with the arrival of Zaha soon
My heart says tht theo will sign…bt thn the face of the dutchman comes to mind who i used to idolise
if walcott were to leave the club i think wenger should retire the no. 14 so that the next successor wont have to shoulder the burden of the expectation of wearing the no. 14
My mind’s telling me he won’t sign…
But my body! My body’s telling me yea-heh!
So I don’t know what to think.
Hahaha classic!
i think your body is in the new years eve spirit already
Hey MudaFucka
I got them lyrics trademarked so pay me my money!!
Obviously a fake R Kelly… He only communicates through song. Now if you said “that’s a trademarked song so ill pull out my gun, if you don’t pay me money I’m gonna shoot someone” urban opera classic
If we don’t give him the extra 20k per week he will be off scoring for fun at City or United next season. His transfer value will be around £30 million, they’ll tie him down to a six year contract and we’ll have Gervinho to make up for the loss. Pay up. We can’t afford to lose our best players (in the premier league world) over a small amount of money. On a positive note, no matter what happens it seems England have a very promising new centre forward.
He wouldn’t make the bench at city for a lot of games, and not for united sometimes. Would very rarely start for either team all season.
That’s what we tell ourselves with all our transfers.
It’s worth mentioning walcott has improved alot and he could have a case for starting in both those teams. Anyway, the real issue here is not losing a prized asset over some few quid. Make it £90 then thats it……really!
Tom cleverly cannot get into this arsenal team yet he’s starting for united and neither can james milner yet look, he’s at citys 11. It does not always work like u think it would. They have shits too….
That’s cause Cleverly isn’t a striker. Neither is Milner. Strikers in depth is what we lack. What do you think, that he will go above Dzeko, Aguero, Tevez or Balotelli for City or you’d put him in front of “hey that guy”, Chicarito, Welback. Not forgetting Rooney can strike too. The only striker we really have is HFB. Walcott is just fresh and I hope he stays fresh with the freshest team on this planet…. or go rot somewhere eh. That said I think we need him in the team. If not for his good/bad play, we need him for… Read more »
I’m very pleased for Walcott that he’s starting to fulfill his potential, and I’m starting to be convinced that he’ll be a great player (hopefully for us!). However I’m still quite anxious about possibly missing out on Demba Ba. In him you’ve got a player who’s nearly scored as many goals in the league as RVP, for about a third of the price that we sold him for! What do you guys think?
I think most of us would sign Demba Ba, he’s openly stated that signing for Arsenal would be a dream come true but Arsene unfortunately isn’t interested 🙁
Looks like Ba wants to go to Chelsea.Also Wenger said that his style is very similar to Giroud’s.
Ba just got a whole lot of expensive. Both economically and his physical risk.
Buy ba = £7.5milli
Agents allegedly demanding £4milli fee
+ obvious risk with his chronic knee problem.
If the Chavs have declined this deal, i’d be so shocked if arsenal step in.
Yes, looks like the Chelsea talks have broken down before even getting started. Bad news, I reckon, because now Chelsea will throw an even bigger offer at Walcott, and Gazidis will happily gobble it up. They’re well out of it with Ba – no spring chicken, dodgy knees and a more than normally greedy agent – but Walcott will be a massive bargain for them. Young, flexible, able to play anywhere up front; just imagine him partnering for Falcao next season. Not such a brilliant move for Walcott, though, as he’ll find himself stuck on the right again, until he’s… Read more »
Ba has a very very good agent hence the get out clause, sounds to me as though he is a bit of a mercenary but then again most footballers are it seems, would rather pay theo the money he wants if that was choice, but regardless if theo leaves or stays we need another striker. The crime of this whole situation is that I believe the club knows theo is going yet we still play him and the only reason we are doing that is to show his potential suitors what a good buy he can be and push up… Read more »
Voldy, I’m not sure I agree. Walcott was frozen out of our lineup for the first two months of the season. Wenger only gave him starts in the Capital One Cup, barring the game against Sunderland. Theo was certainly impressive in those Capital One Cup appearances (albeit against lesser competition). Meanwhile, Wenger exhausted all non-Walcott possibilities across our front three (even Gervinho got a few run-outs as central striker), and it was becoming increasingly clear that freezing out Walcott was hurting our results. Injuries to the Ox and Gervinho meant Walcott had the chance to slot back into the starting… Read more »
I agree with Voldemorte’s depressing take on this one, I’m afraid. Sure, Walcott has been frozen out for the most of the season but I’d see that as Wenger’s attempt to punish him and/or to try to pressure him into signing. Bad, bad move, imo, as apart from anything else benching our most prolific attacker for over a third of the season has cost us some much-needed points. Worse, if Walcott still hadn’t quite made up his mind back in August, he sure will have done by September as result of that treatment. Like all players he wants to feel… Read more »
Totally agree with Volders and Miranda about Walcott. And when he does go next month we are going to finally look like a second-rate joke club. Any other top club simply would not have allowed the Walcott situation to have developed. How can a 23-year-old at the top of his game be allowed to walk away for peanuts? We should have either given him what he wants or sold him a year ago for a decent fee. By the way, I’ve got a feeling that Demba Ba will end up at Chelsea in the end. If he turns down a… Read more »
@wiltodo. I hope I’m wrong mate I really do mainly because I want to keep theo but when we brought theo back into the team properly we were struggling and when he came in we done ok, maybe I’m just being too cynical, I hope I am and only another few weeks to find out I suppose.
I think we’ve made a right balls-up of it. Walcott has been getting 50-60k a week which is less or the same as Denilson, Almunia, Bendtner, Squilaci, Fabianski, Senderos, Djourou, Chamakh – the list is bloody endless – most of whom haven’t even been good enough to play. Walcott, by contrast, has been our first choice on the right, a position he doesn’t believe suits him, and his assist and goal stats have been excellent almost from his first season. If they hadn’t been, he wouldn’t have been our first choice. We’re happy to pay Podolski 90k a week, so… Read more »
That’s because Arsene is at times a numpty. Instead we’ll sign the 12 year old from Palace. Roll on another season of ‘the team is still getting used to each other.’
As far as i’m concerned Walcott has one more test to pass. Playing up front against a team that defends deep and in a compact shape. He has done really well so far against teams playing with a high line and giving him space to play in. This test is one i’m sure he’s confident of passing himself, as he is looking pretty deadly in front of goal these days. The goal which impressed me the most on saturday, was the top corner finish in the packed penalty area, as it shows that he is capable of making good decisions… Read more »
The 12 Labours of Theo. I agree with you 100%
Shoulda used the doh for upgrading ramseys contract and fund walcotts’ instead. So instead of letting our best player run down his contract, let our not so best player be the one to go through what walcotts going through right now. Only this time he wont be holding club to ransom, he’ll instead be playing his heart out for another contract. Plus no one will be in the market for him. See?. Easy, pweezy. But no, at arsenal we like it just the way it is. “Best players reach their final year contracts (rvp, song, walcott) but the squad players… Read more »
Flicking through the Arsenal 2013 wall calendar I see Walcott doesn’t feature at all. Do the marketing dept know something?
Since he hasn’t signed we need to buy a replacement, preferably in January so they can be integrated into the team in case he goes in the summer. I’m tired of ‘rebuilding.’
Accepting it takes two to tango, we have to do everything possible to get Theo signed up. If Jack, Santi etc are on less, is he worth £100k a week? No, probably not. But could he get £100k a week elsewhere? Yes. So that’s the market rate for him. Letting him go would be an utter waste of 6/7 years of investment and development, and unless the club are saying Gnabry is his replacement, it’s a false economy as we’ll have to lay out a transfer fee for and salary to a new player. But it’s also about taking the… Read more »
True,we need to resign him. 100k is more to do with his marketability, given that he is English. Other mediocre English players are getting in 100k range. He definitely doesn’t deserve to be the highest paid player in the team but we cannot help it. Give him what he wants.
All I know is that with the commercial deals worked out, we should be able to compete with petrol filth. It’s sad, but at least we’re doing it fair.
Fair to say, we still stick to our principles if we offer Theo an inflated contract? After all, we did invest in him the last 6 years and we will invest in him according the FFP. More or less, I guess, I’m not that familiar with it.
Arsenal, we’ve tightened our belt for too long. It’s time to come back.
Ok I have to ask… What happened to Ryo? Kinda thought if theo left he would come back from loan and play on the wing.
Agree, but why has’ent Walcott signed a new contract, it was all about getting his chance up front and noting about the money so what’s his problem now that he’s playing up front
[…] 来源：[Arseblog News] […]
Speaking purely off the field. Surely Feo has to be our most commercially marketable player? Clean cut, English nice boy. Any difference between what our offer is and what he wants (anyone stil naive enough to think it’s anything other than money?), surely we can make back by producing a run of Wallcott themed memorabilia. Just put his face on anything, Wallcott toasters, Wallcott spoons, a book of uninteresting anecdotes from post-alcoholism Arsenal… Every 6 year old Arsenal fan should have an entire Wallcott bedroom and we should capitalise on that! Give him the extra bottle tops and pocket fluff… Read more »
Obviously I meant Walcott. Suffering from a slight crisp overdose at the moment.
Like it.
‘Walcott Laxatives – Guaranteed to make you run faster than Theo’.
the problem for us is walcott’s contract will become a totemic issue – if he leaves it will send out a terrible signal. and yet, i think the media and fans have been very harsh on arsenal over this. we’ve clearly been trying to sign him. we’ve offered him a salary that is more than fair. he is pushing for more. what can we do? it’s very easy for the likes of piers moron et al to sit on the sidelines and bellow “pay him whatever he wants”. but the world (at least the real world – the non-man-city-world) doesn’t… Read more »
Its his agent, they are the real cunts. The agents dont give a shit on club loyalty and spirit, only $$$$ matters. They just want to cash in fast while the merchandise is heating up. At 23 it’s absolutely no harm for Walcott to settle down at Arsenal. Build up a solid reputation as a fearsome footballer, then at 28 he can review things up and decide if he’s gunning for glorified $$$ charged contract. At 28-29, thats the most desirable maturity milestone for any enterprising footballer, because if you are really good, your demands will be seriously considered
Arsenal advertises itself as a top club and charges admission accordingly. In the real(sic) world Theo’s wage demands are not that extravagant for a top class striker at a top club. But if Theo doesn’t want to sign and is actually playing silly buggers, a big club would call his bluff otherwise their brand will be diminished if he leaves on a free so soon after RVP, Fab etc. How about a different approach sign him up at 150k a week 5 year contract mature him as a CF and then sell his arse to Real or PSG in a… Read more »
just did the maths. 75k a week more than they are offering him for 11/2 years is 5.8mill. A fantastic 60mill profit. Even I would get a woody. Its just a thought.
Earlier in the season I was thinking I want him to stay but 100k a week seems too much. But to give the guy his dues he has stepped up and shown that he is worth it. We could probably find another player as competent for the money but there would be a big fee to pay and the whole integration process to go through. So for me it’s a no brainer, give him his money and stop fucking about over 20k a week. If we lose another top player to a competitor it will be disastrous. Seeing RVP banging… Read more »
hes scored against a reading side, a newcastle side that lack 9 first team players. He has not proven himself yet. If he can score against swansea in the fa cup or the city game not too far away then i think he should be given what he wants.
I accept your note of caution but that last goal against Newcastle was absolute class. If we had just signed someone that had done that we’d be ecstatic but because it’s Theo somehow its not as good? I don’t think so. That’s a man with a point to prove and I sincerely hope he gets his chance to prove it with us.
At the moment, theo is playing for the extra zeroes in the contract. He is hawking his goods and he is getting successful. chelski or liverpool can do well with such young and talented player with zero transfer fees and PL exp. theo can be well payed beyond £100K or near £150Ks in either club. And theo is simply waiting for that big fat cheque to land on his lap. Theo team is waiting for the highest salary bidding war to start. arsenal has lost theo and its about time we start planning for the future without him. Theo will… Read more »
No you’re right let’s stick to a wage structure that looked out of date 2 years ago that way we can end up being the most morally superior team in the uefa cup. Theo is going to be a top (top?) player and 2years into his new contract 100k will look cheap. Sugar daddy football isn’t going away and whilst we can’t have a squad full on that sort of money we’re going to need a few or we will just slide down the table
@Goonsquad: I am NOT advocating for the age old practice of Arsenal wage structure. What I am suggesting is that Arsenal has already lost any possibility of signing Theo at any given salary or his preferred playing position. Theo’s agent is not stupid and will not allow his client to sign for £100K from Arsenal when he can easily get more than that in other clubs namely Chelski or liverpool. Its a competitive but ridiculous salary market in PL and Theo knows he can easily command £150Ks with his current form. Whether he will be success or not in other… Read more »
And Arsene is really loyal to that jacket I hate.
In all fairness, how shitty would the likes of Cazorla, Wilshere, Podolski, Giroud would feel if indeed Arsenal were to give in and grant Walcott his £100k+ wage? If he’s going to get that kind of money then the rest of the top performing Gooners should and must have that as well. Football is not played by a single man on the pitch
Two words: market value.
Walcott at arsenals world deserves £75k but in the sad real world, he can easily make £100k and it would be seen as okay. Something is wrong somewhere. Djorou?
I love how people say the real world.. Because getting paid 70k a week is defo the real world LOL..
Is podolski not on 90k already? I’m sure Giroux got a big raise when he joined arsenal and still has a lot to prove. Anyhow, who said life is fair, would those players rather see arsenal lose more talent, but the wages are fair?
apparently the top earners (after AW) are…
Podolski £107k pw
Rosicky £80k pw
Mertesacker £80 pw
Arshavin £78k pw
Cazorla, Arteta & Vermaelen £70k pw each
Walcott £60k pw
obviously these figures might not be entirely correct, just sharing what the online world tells us.
@astronaut – When Arshavin earns that much, and Podolski over 100k, is it really outrageous for Theo to want that much too? Podolski on his day is amazing, but can be just as inconsistent and anonymous as theo when he’s poor. No one complains about his wages. On top of that, Theo is English; of course he’s going to be valued higher than foreign players. Would I say he’s worth 100k? Not really. I don’t think he should earn more than the likes of Cazorla and Arteta. Do I care? Not really… The Arse should do whatever it takes to… Read more »
It doesn’t always work like that, look at arshavin, he is one of our top earners yet we struggle to get a decent work rate from the guy. Money does not always equate to performance and visa versa. It’s a fact of life that some people will earn more than others for doing the same or a similar job, footballers more than most must accept that, we have tried paying most of our players similar type wages in the hope they perform and that’s why we are stuck with dead wood we have. It doesn’t seem to effect manure that… Read more »
@V. I’ll take it you didn’t mean that Cleverley is to RVP what Santi is to Wally, but in any case I’d guess that in the small world of the dressing room what teammates earn is of intense interest (and cause of jealousies) to players.
More for the sake of continuity i hope he stays. If he goes back to square one, finding a new player to fit in and all sorts new system and all that shizzle. Frustrating how if a couple players stayed for a couple more seasons we would be a bigger force than we currently are….
Good player, but not worth £75,000 a week. Like RVP this is his best season yet and he is in no position to hold the club at ransom. Giving him 75,000 will upset relationships and perhaps demotivate.
100k*
Podolski is already on 107k so he won’t even be the top earner. Wenger has already said he wants him, this is a board decision that once again has dragged on far too long and brought the club a load more negative press. We should be glad that Theo has handled the whole thing like a pro and hasn’t let it impact negatively on his game. There is talk of nicking Marwood from city and I don’t think he can come too soon.
What? To replace Theo on the wing??? Typical Arsene signing!!!
Better Marwood on the wing than Bendtner. What’s the betting he’ll be our LANS come the summer, our replacement for Walcott and on higher wages. I’d put Gazidis on the wing and make him run up and down till he improves his performance and stops spouting lies – ‘Got to be self-sustaining, got to keep wages down, got to remember our responsiblity to the Evertons of this world.’ Would that be the same Everton who paid Arteta more than he’s getting with us? Fact is, there’s nothing virtuous or sensible about the wages we pay. We don’t have a wage… Read more »
So Ba said “it would be a dream to play for Arsenal” Maybe it would, now his move to Chelski has fallen through!!
Trouble for us now the Chavski/Ba talks have failed… Obviously they’re openly looking to sign someone…. Leaves Theo wide open for a tap up me thinks…. They can throw stupid fuckin money at him… Can hear his cunt of an agent now…. “Can get you £150,000 a week Theo, fuck arsenal theo, they’re cunts to you Theo, your better than that Theo, blah, blah, blah, fuckin blah….
Is Walcott worth 100k a week? Yes, in fact I believe he’s worth a lot more. At the same time, I believe so are some other players in our squad including Sagna, Wilshere (maybe too young JUST now), Giroud, Cazorla, Arteta.
How about Arsenal release the dead wood, free up all that money, pay those who deserve it.
We’ve just signed a £150mil deal with Emirates, we can once again compete and we should finally start changing the financial trend here at Arsenal with Theo. He is surely deserving of it.
who is theo’s agent, we should go and keep him awake all jan
Walcott is worth a 100k contract, give him the contract he wants. Arsenal can afford it just as any other top club, it’s time for the board to show some ambitions and show that this club is about football not money. We have a lot of young promising players, but if we can’t offer the contracts as other top clubs can, then we can’t keep them. The reason why the manure cunts is so successful is because that there is a winner mentality in the club, losing is not acceptable. They always aim to win the league, our club does… Read more »
If the board don’t give Theo a decent pay rise, where does that leave Wenger? He has stated quite clearly that he wants Theo to stay, but he may have to watch Theo walk out the door which means he’s working with one hand tied behind his back. I assumed this type of situation is exactly why we moved to the Emerates and recently had to stomach that twat Gazidis boasting about our fantastic new mega money sponsorship deals – so we can compete with other clubs and not have to sell our best players…yet here we are again!!!
I get the impression that Arsenal would be willing to get him a significant pay raise, but if you’re an in-demand player six months away from free agency, why would you sign a contract now when odds are that you could get much more from a petroclub or other huge club during the summer?
True, they need to get rid of the deadwood and offer our best players better salaries and our promising youth players.
We can’t offer the 200k+ contracts as chelsea and city, but we could offer them the 100k-150k contracts as other clubs as united,spurs and liverpool does.
Lets kick greed out of football…
A monkey could have got a better deal with the emirates. What are we paying him for?! selling our best players, and give him big bonuses for not doing his job.
Take out a big bonus because the football year was such a success when we finished 3rd. Does he seriously thinks that a 3rd place is what the supporters consider as an achievement? (we pay the most expensive tickets in the world)
Our current board is arsenals cancer, killing the club slowly from inside.
Couldn’t agree more Dial…. Trouble is of course, the complete lack of transparency…. We ain’t got a fuckin clue what’s going on…. As PHW said “thank you for taking an interest in our affairs” or words to the effect…. Our affairs, Jesus…! I think I speak for the majority of us suffering gooners who just want to know what the fuck is going on behind the scenes….
DavidNewzealand
Since the draw with Stoke we have been competing
for the Arsene Wenger trophy , fourth place, to win
Champions league qualification.
We are on target. Theo is scoring goals, pay him.
He will be one of our ” exceptional buys” this transfer window. Lol.
We have many “exceptional buys” in our team already.
We don’t need any more.
What we need is an exceptional coacing staff to bring the best out of these players both as inividuals and as a team.
Go the gunners.
Happy new year btw you fellow grumpy but fun gunners!
Just read that we put a bid in for adrian.. If its true thats good nice and early intent..
Please Mr.Wenger sign Isco from Malaga. We could deploy him anywhere in our attack and the prospect of him linking up with his former teammate Santi is very tasty. If Walcott leaves he could definitely fill the void plus Malaga need the money.
The transfer windows is no longer about who we are going to buy. It’s only about who we are going to sell and make some profits on, to fill the pockets of arsenals greedy board.
When will this stop?!